This week, I am surrendering this column to Shirley Igbinedion of LEADERSHIP Newspapers, Abuja, who did a brilliant review of my book Who Cares About Human Rights?, published late last year by Epikaya Communications Nigeria Ltd. and publicly presented in both Nigeria and the United Kingdom.

I hope you enjoy Shirley’s review, entitled ‘An Activist’s Perspective on Nigeria’. Please read on:

Nigeria, at independence, held a lot of promise. The world was watching! And Nigerians themselves were expectant: believing that in no time, their country would be a super power and a gleaming example for other African countries to emulate. This was, however, not to be. Things got so bad that by 2013, Nigeria was named the worst country to be born in by the Economist Intelligence Unit. Unfortunately, the country has continued to feature prominently on corruption lists although currently on the lower rungs, irrespective of enormous human and material sources.

Although a lot of reasons have been advanced for this state of affairs in the most populous black nation in the world, Emmanuel Onwubiko, in Who Cares About Human Rights? blames it almost entirely on the government’s flagrant disregard for constitutional provisions, which ordinarily should protect the rights of Nigerians.

The book – a compilation of articles on the author’s perspective on various national and international issues that were published in various local newspapers and online platforms in the last nine years – brings to the fore, many ways through which the government abuses the rights of the people. Interestingly, many of the victims, that is, the Nigerian people, do not even know that their rights are being or have been abused.

In the 1,024-page book, divided into 143 chapters, Onwubiko, a human rights activist, analyses various socio-political, economic, and religious issues that have affected the polity since independence, particularly since 2005. With catchy titles, these issues range from the reasons for subsidy removal as told by those who advocated for it; how as a result of poverty, many young girls have now taken to the streets as prostitutes,  encouraged or even compelled by their parents; corruption in the judiciary, the Nigeria Police; religious extremism; the Nigeria-Biafra war, and many others.

In chapter one, for instance, he talks about the fuel subsidy removal of January 1, 2011, which resulted in a protest that almost crippled the economy. He believes it was completely insensitive and unnecessary for the government to have done so, as it was one of the very few ways through which the masses benefit from government. He suggests that, in trying to save money, the Federal administration could increase its tax on the upper class, which is the practice in most developed countries.

He extensively quotes various international laws, declarations and conventions all through the book. He also discusses pertinent issues like the war in Sudan and Liberia’s new status as a country recovering from years of civil war. In different chapters, he talks about such personalities as President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Kofi Annan, erstwhile secretary-general of the United Nations, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia and her predecessor, Charles Taylor. Taylor is currently serving a 50-year jail term for fuelling the civil war in Liberia and Sierra Leone among other war crimes.

In Chapter 16, he compares and contrasts the personality of America’s first lady, Michelle Obama, and that of her Nigerian counterpart, Patience Jonathan, concluding that while Mrs. Obama exudes sophistication and the perfect helpmate to her husband and mother to the nation, Mrs Jonathan has a lot to learn.

One cannot help but wonder what has become of the pathetic Pfizer Trovan Antibiotic case of 1996 in Kano as discussed in Chapter 20 of the book, titled Pfizer Victims and the Monkey Story. Through this chapter, he is able to show how inept the government is and has always been in protecting the lives of its vulnerable citizens, even against exploitative foreign companies. Between five and 11 children died from the unauthorised testing of a drug while others suffered various degrees of disabilities. Equally disclosed how over $4.5 million was used to purchase cars and a well furnished office for the board and its members that were to monitor the compensation of the victims, which is beyond imagination. This, to the author, is made worse by the fact that, to this day, not a single victim or their relative has received a dime in compensation.

Situations like this have become the order of the day in Nigeria: boards and committees are set up and equipped, but after several years the problem they were set up to solve remain untouched.

In Chapter 106, titled Pfizer: Never Again, he blames Nigerians for doing very little to help themselves by continuing to patronise drug hawkers, despite repeated warnings from the National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).

Throughout the book, he not only mentioned the problems and analyzes them with the critical mind of a journalist and activist, but goes a step further to proffer solutions.

However, some articles, due to no fault in them at the time they were written, have had their suppositions and expressions altered by hindsight. Perhaps, such articles could have benefited from being updated to include new facts and contexts that have emerged.

The author who hails from Arondizuogu in the South-East geopolitical zone essentially believes that the government can always do more to improve the condition of the people. The government can always do better and Nigeria can become great again. This is the dominating theme of the book.

His passion and concern for the Nigeria, and the issues he writes about are palpable, demanding immediate attention of those in a position to effect change; and this is by no means limited to the government. He also sounds a rallying cry to his readers who feel similarly involved to be moved to action.

Of course, like any enterprise of sincerely passionate origin, he sometimes goes overboard in his criticism and positions. For example, in Chapter 133, he said President Goodluck Jonathan, has “cleverly adopted” two Igbo names, referring to his middle names, Ebele and Azikiwe, as if he only got the names to appeal to the Igbo people over the government’s repeated failure to build the second Niger Bridge; whereas they have been a part of him long before he became president. He had also described as “puerile,” former Governor Murtala Nyako’s statement that accused the President of genocide with regards to the military intervention against the Boko Haram insurgents in the North- east. There could have been a better way to say Nyako’s argument and attempt to incite other northern governors against the President was aimed at sabotaging the fight against terrorism without attacking. However, one can easily understand that it is his desire for a better nation that also imbues the book with its strong points. 

A former Federal Commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission and member, Presidential Committee on Continuous Dialogue in Northern Nigeria (PCCDR), indeed, Emmanuel Onwubiko’s Who Cares About Human Rights? is a book everyone who wants to get an authoritative perspective and good history of contemporary Nigerian politics must read. It is well-written, with passionate dissection of hot topics over the last decade and filled with insights and factual revelations. 

•RIGHTSVIEW appears on Saturdays, in addition to special appearances. The Columnist, popular activist Emmanuel Onwubiko, is a former Federal Commissioner of Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission and presently National Coordinator of Human Rights Writers’ Association of Nigeria (HURIWA).

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